Anonymity? Interesting discussion on whether the public has a right to know Matthew Good's name. The Fountain Hills Powerball winner wanted to be anonymous, but lottery winners are public record in Arizona. Once his name had been released, a quick search of other readily online public documents showed us not only where he lives, but when he moved here and what he paid for his house. A few neighbors talked about his willingness to help others, and bam! We think we know the guy. Which means we think we can judge the guy.

I'm all for public records; with millions of lottery dollars floating around, it's important to know where the money is going. But I feel bad for the guy and the judgment that followed: Does he need the money, does he deserve the money? Maybe there should be a disclaimer on lottery tickets, something like, "WARNING: Winning this lottery means you will suddenly be thrust in the public eye. Don't play if you don't want the trouble." Or, if you want to go really short: "More money, more problems."

To spend or not: How tightly will lawmakers grip the state's purse strings in 2013? Senate President-elect Andy Biggs vowed to fight the "spending lobby" last week during an event in his conservative home district, which includes Gilbert. He didn't offer much more assurance for education, which is about to take a funding wallop when a temporary sales tax expires next year. But is Biggs the last word on all of this? He shares Senate Republican leadership with two more moderate senators, John McComish and Adam Driggs, and all three are scheduled to speak with The Republic on Wednesday (yes, I'll be updating -- stay tuned). Methinks their joint discussion should be far more instructive on what happens this session.

How bad are the Arizona Cardinals? More importantly, how badly are the Arizona Cardinals being ridiculed in the national press?

The team suffered its worst loss Sunday in franchise history, turning the team -- which has lost its last nine games -- into an instant punch line in the national media. The jokes started before halftime, when game announcers quipped after a short cutaway to another game that they figured people would like to see a game where both teams scored.

Ouch.

But it got worse. Much worse. Among the biggest burns:

-- USA Today played up the above photo with the headline, "This picture perfectly sums up the Arizona Cardinals season." Look for sad Kevin Kolb pictures as the next Internet meme.

-- The Huffington Post's lead: "Ken Whisenhunt started with an apology and later asked a reporter if he could play quarterback. Arizona's season that was already spiraling finally hit bottom on Sunday." Yep, you know it's bad when reporters are being asked to join the game.

-- Fox News' lead: "John Skelton or Ryan Lindley? That's like asking a condemned man if he wants a firing squad or a paralyzing agent running through his veins." Wow.

-- From Bleacher Report's winners and losers list: "How many times can a man be kicked when he is down before gets (up) and does something about it? In the case of Ken Whisenhunt, the answer is too many. You can use any excuse you want, but the bottom line is that there are teams with less talent having more success than the Arizona Cardinals."

A ray of light? Both Bleacher Report and ESPN note that the Cardinals are now bad enough to do well in the draft. But that's hardly a morale builder, much less a seat- and jersey-seller. And that can't be good news for the team's taxpayer-supported stadium. Too bad Johnny Football is still just a freshman.

Dumbing down: It was known as the Curly Q slide growing up. It was tall and metal and burned your legs when you went down on a hot summer's day. But that made it one of the most attractive pieces of playground equipment at my hometown park -- that is, until it got turned into a sculpture. The slide was sturdy but no longer met safety specifications when new equipment was installed. So the city closed it to kids, painted it bright colors and left it as an homage to how we used to play.

Maybe I'm being overly nostalgic, but it was the first thing that came to mind after watching a recent 12 News report on playground safety (see video below). Some researchers worry that we've dumbed down playground equipment so much that playgrounds have become boring and over-protective, imperiling kids' future ability to take calculated risks. Some playground manufacturers are fighting back with equipment that looks more dangerous than it is.

Newscasters seemed dubious of those claims, noting that kids rarely play on equipment -- even the boring, plastic stuff that meets modern safety standards -- as it was intended. Perhaps. But if that's the case, what's wrong with the wood-and-metal stuff we used to play with? If you haven't banged a knee, taken a triple-dog dare or tried to jump farther than possible on a playground, you're not doing it right.

More dumbing down: I had to read this quote twice in a Republic report that Arizona students' vocabularly lags that of their peers on the National Assessment of Educational Progress -- not because I didn't understand it, but because I wasn't expecting a state education official to actually say it. “The grade level at which we’ve been teaching things in Arizona is not necessarily the same as other states,” said Rebecca Gau, director of the Governor's Office of Education Innovation. “So by moving to Common Core (standards, which are the same across states), we’ll be teaching things that NAEP assesses.” At least there's hope for the future.

It's about time that the U.S. Supreme Court took up the gay-marriage question.

Justices could rule by next summer whether the Constitution affords gay and straight couples the same right to marry. They also will consider whether legally married gay couples have a right to federal benefits.

The tide is changing. People of my generation and younger are much more supportive of gay marriage than their parents and grandparents. Gay-marriage bans that swept the nation a few years ago -- and even this summer's Chick-fil-A demonstrations -- will in a decade or so be a thing of the past, no matter how the Supreme Court rules.

But a constitutional argument certainly could speed up the process. Bring it on.

Avoiding conflict: This could be a much lengthier blog on whether Mesa will approve a sizable pay raise for the mayor and City Council on Monday. In a nutshell: This process has been politicized from the beginning, so don't be surprised if the vote isn't colored by members' political ambitions. But the conflict-of-interest part of this story bares repeating. The city attorney says that technically, the vote is a conflict because council members are voting on something that affects their livelihoods. But because the council is the only body that can approve the raises, and because everyone has the same conflict, Arizona law allows the vote. So, because everyone's in the wrong, it's somehow right? Salary decisions should be out of council hands all together.

To appeal or not: Should Secretary of State Ken Bennett have appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court whether an education sales tax should have been on the November ballot? Pro-Proposition 204 folks say it was overkill. But was it? Had the measure not been appealed, there would have been lingering questions about whether the tax deserved a spot on the ballot. (The court sided with the pro-tax folks, btw.) And that would have been the whole campaign, overshadowing debate on the tax's pros and cons. The Supreme Court ruled that Bennett was within his rights to appeal, and taxpayers don't have to pay the court costs. All in all, it was an effort well spent.

Cactus Juice is probably sweet, but you'd never know with all the thorns. Just like Arizona debate?

Way to sell it: Leaders across Arizona are calling for a deeper debate on how we fund education. They don't want schools to be in the lurch when a temporary sales tax expires next year. So, will state Superintendent of Education John Huppenthal seek those funding solutions? Yes, he says. Well, maybe. "We can get the job done with the resources that we have," Huppenthal said during a 12 News interview (watch it below). "We would like the money ... but we're not going to use that as an excuse if the money doesn't come." Yep, that's really selling it.

Uphill battle: State universities aren't waiting to make their case for extra funding next year, having already identified more than $200 million in additional budget requests. Expect an uphill battle. "They must be delusional because we don't have any money," Don Shooter, the Senate appropriations committee chair, told the Arizona Capitol Times. Even if there isn't a snowball's chance in Phoenix to get the money, advocates say it's important to publicly identify the needs. Indeed. If lawmakers punt on solutions -- which is entirely likely -- funding decisions may be left to voters once again.

The next phase: The Washington Nationals are unlikely to make Arizona their next spring-training home, The Washington Post reports. They like the Cactus League's proximity to other teams. But the Valley is far from their fan base, and we don't have any spare facilities to fill. The good news? We're no longer considered the Grapefruit League's ugly stepsister. Even teams with deep Florida ties like what we have to offer. But in an ever-changing industry, we can't sit back on our laurels. Even if we don't snag a 16th team (which would make scheduling games easier), we need a long-term plan to maintain and grow our assets. In other words, it should be a lot clearer where we go from here.

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